While having coffee with my fellow blogger and urban living expert, Bryant Forrester, this week, he mentioned a great term - first ring suburbs.

What is a first ring suburb? Think of the Boise Bench, the North End, SE Boise, etc. These are all first ring suburbs. They are the areas that surround downtown, whether it be in Boise, Nampa, San Francisco, etc. Minutes from the city, they provide people the ability to live near town, but in most cases, without the ticket price of downtown.

Bryant and I were discussing Midtown, my Tahoe Homes  townhome development, on the "Bench" (Orchard and Targee). Bryant said, "you can take advantage of the fact that Midtown, so appropriately named, is in the first ring suburb of Boise"! Urban living, without downtown prices - close, easy commute, but less expensive than the city's new high rises.

I love the term, 1st ring suburbs...it sounds cool! When I think of friends here in Boise, they love to talk about how they live in Southeast, or the Northend, the Bench, etc. In Meridian, we don't have these cool terms. "I live in the middle of Meridian..., where? Oh, right near Eagle, kind of in the middle, off Chinden". Yes, that's right, suburbia - definitely not hip and swanky. Don't get me wrong, I have a great home, but one of these days, I'm thinking the 1st ring sounds like a pretty good idea.

Bryant, thanks for the lingo!  Consumers...if you can't quite foot the bill for that downtown lifestyle; why not try the 1st ring? It's only minutes away, easy on the gas budget, and you can still find great amenities and tons of character; all within your means.